"Often overwhelmed by comprehensive FISMA requirements and looming NIST deadlines, many government agencies require a quick, easy way to jumpstart the C&A process," said Richard P. Tracy, chief security officer, Telos Corporation. "CISOs can achieve solid results within one week using Xacta FISMA Accelerator," which is slated for release in May.

The ability to achieve fast and accurate results is particularly crucial as recent reports suggest many government agencies are ill-prepared to fulfill FIPS 199 requirements by the June 2005 deadline, and February saw the release of poor Federal Computer Security Report Card grades related to FISMA compliance for the majority of government agencies all of which are required to comply with FISMA. In addition, federal agencies are mandated to comply with the National Institute of Standards of Technology (NIST) requirement guide for security C&A of federal information systems (SP 800-37) and NIST security metrics guide for information technology systems (SP 800-26).

Tracy explained that "Xacta FISMA Accelerator requires input into two basic tasks to generate the four documents required by NIST SP 800-37."

With minimal data input and no application configuration requirements, Xacta FISMA Accelerator speeds an agency's FISMA compliance efforts by using system definition inputs and responses to an easy-to-understand NIST SP 800-26 survey to compile the completed self-assessment results, risk assessment, system security plan, and plan of action and milestones (POA&M).

"FISMA standards help ensure the safety of our government's information," Tracy said. "Through FISMA compliance the government is shoring up its information systems before a cyberattack gains access to vital information. That is why FISMA was created in the first place and precisely why Telos remains committed to ensuring that IT risks are not only monitored but also mitigated."

The data obtained from Xacta FISMA Accelerator can be easily migrated into the full version of Xacta IA Manager(TM) to complete C&As for moderate- and high-impact major applications and general support systems. Xacta IA Manager provides a completely automated C&A and IT security management solution, integrating people, processes, and security technologies into an enterprise solution for IT risk and compliance management.

Telos is the leading provider of government-validated, secure enterprise solutions. Xacta IA Manager is currently deployed across hundreds of federal, defense, and intelligence organizations.

About Telos
Telos Corporation has provided innovative IT solutions and services to the federal government for more than 30 years. Telos and Xacta Corporation, its subsidiary for security solutions, have since 1989 ensured that the government's most security-conscious organizations comply with demanding federal and DoD information security mandates. Xacta's offerings include enterprise IT security management solutions, enterprise security consulting services, secure wireless networking, enterprise messaging, and secure credentialing solutions. Its solutions are represented to the federal government on Telos' GSA schedule. For more information, visit www.telos.com.

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